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The global sports tech market is expected to grow at a spectacular annual growth rate and reach USD 40 billion by 2026. Technology, data, and analytics drive the sports tech market by unlocking new revenue streams and reshaping the Copy of [Devox Software] #120 Wearable Technology in Sports: Pros and Cons [1570 words]industry. 

It also helps athletes gain a competitive advantage. Fans, coaches, referees, and trainers actively use athlete performance technologies. Wearable devices and sensors help optimize training, improve game decision-making, speed up recovery, and understand and push the boundaries of what athletes can achieve. 

Being a renowned web development company, Devox Software covers a full cycle of wearable app development. We are experts at solving difficult engineering problems and combining complex technologies. In this article, we will share our experience with wearable technology for athletes and deeply dive into all the ins and outs of wearable app development. 

What is Wearable Technology?

Wearable technology is everything designed to be used while worn. They are often close to or on the skin’s surface, where they detect, analyze, and transmit information. For example, via sensors, athletes and their coaches can gather information on everything, including vital signs and ambient data. This way, they can train smarter, identify weaknesses, and track progress. They often work on a real-time basis by taking snapshots of daily activities and syncing them with the information on your mobile device or computer. 

Common examples of innovative wearable technology are smartwatches, like Apple Watch or Fitbit, implantable devices, and smart clothes.

Pros and Cons of Wearable Technology

For everyone — professionals and amateurs, wearable technology fitness is changing the game. Here are the key advantages of wearable technology: 

  • Improves accuracy: Wearable solutions improve the scanning performance, as they allow focusing on the exercise performed and avoiding interruptions to track data. 
  • Continuous data: It helps you acquire information that was not previously available. For example, you can get a constant stream of data for entire training sessions instead of watching hours of video to obtain this information or not knowing it at all.
  • Supports safety: They can be used to monitor and notify athletes of potential fatigue or injury so they understand when their limit is being pushed. 

Despite the apparent pros, there are also multiple cons when it comes to wearable technology.

  • Data security: Wearable devices fitness collect personal data and are connected to the internet. Thus it’s essential to check what security features are available. This way, it ensures that personal information does not get into the wrong hands, which is particularly important for professional athletes.
  • Limited capabilities: Most wearable devices can only provide a full range of functions with smartphones or computers. Therefore, its functionality still offers a space for growth and development.
  • Unmanageable quantity of data: Wearable technology in sports produces large quantities of data. They need to be analyzed and contextualized with other information like repetitions, interval times, and intensity. Therefore, this amount of data can become unmanageable with several training sessions or athletes.

Wearable technology does bring to the table multiple disadvantages. However, they all provide the potential for more web development. The possibilities to optimize performance are unlimited, together with the new technologies, such as AI and IoT.

How Can Wearables Change Our Lives?

Any technology is created with one sole purpose — to improve and make our lives easier. Wearable devices help us to keep in touch with these benefits throughout the day, from tracking fitness activity to boosting training experiences. 

Innovative wearable technology can help us better understand and improve our overall health. The information they track about our physical and emotional well-being allows everyone to make informed decisions about our diet, exercising, sleeping schedule, and more. Wearable technology is changing our lifes and health through multiple industries:

When developing such a solution, it is essential to put people at the core. It is an essential step when building a product roadmap. The Devox Software team understands the importance and need to build physical, digital, and data systems that will become life-changing wearable technology solutions. 

What Is The Future of Wearable Technology?

Wearable technology is becoming a more prevalent part of our daily lives. Forbes is predicting it will become even more integrated with the human element. Therefore, we might expect to see that wearable devices will acquire more IoT capabilities in the everyday objects we use. Smartwatches, which becomes an important element of everyday life, are forecasted to grow to over 253 million shipment units by 2025. 

It is also expected that sensors of wearable technology will also be able to communicate the amount of injury risk associated with a particular physical activity. It will be an addition to enhancing athletic performance. This way, wearable sports technology will deliver many more vital benefits to society in the future. 

In addition, recent developments, such as Metaverse, the new 4D immersive universe, and other AR, VR, and XR devices, will profoundly transform our digital lives and change how we engage in a training experience. For example, you can simply wear a device connecting you to the other side of the world to participate in a particular activity without extra traveling.

3 Most Innovative Wearable Devices 

Innovative wearable technology for fitness and sports is on the rise. They are of great interest to everyone — professionals, sports fanatics, and just those who aim to take care of their lifestyle. We have spotted the three most innovative wearable fitness and sports gadgets that offer remarkable sports features. 

Wearable medical devices 

Wearable medical devices are used to diagnose and monitor health conditions, often with the help of clothing. These clothes are worn as usual, but with the detectors hidden inside. Besides being used to monitor health, smart clothing also helps to reduce reliance on costly equipment and a heavily burdened healthcare system. In addition, it makes patients more comfortable during their stay at a hospital. 

For example, KardiaMobile is a product made by AliveCor, a medical device and artificial intelligence company that is developing products for screening, diagnosis and treatment. 

Kardia is created by cardiologists, which helps to get accurate EKG results from home and detect 6 of the most common arrhythmias.

VR headsets

The sports industry started to use VR headsets to improve the training experience as it makes athletes feel like in a real competition. This way, they manage to boost their results and experience by abstracting them away from their surroundings and diving into the atmosphere of the game.

There is a VR sports game that aims to help players achieve athletic goals by creating easier access to workouts and coaches that help you perform at your best. HoloFit lets you connect with anyone in the world who wants to join your training. You can make VR cycling, skiing, and rowing. Even though the experience is virtual, significant results can be achieved with the help of this game in real life. 

Smart accessories

Smart accessories track movement, sleep, and recovery, but what makes them interesting and different from other fitness trackers are that they come with no screen. For example, Ultrahuman Ring monitors sleep stages, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and body temperature. You can also get all of your notifications on the Ultrahuman app. It’s one of the coolest fitness gadgets for 2023.

Wearables Development with Devox Software 

The role of wearable technology in our lives is rapidly growing. Tech getting faster and devices getting smaller contribute to this trend. Undoubtedly, the most significant technological developments are only at their start. We can expect to see more advanced wearable devices ahead of us. This gives you a valuable opportunity to join the sports tech industry early in its development.  

Web Development in Health & Fitness 

Our team has experience in building a social platform dedicated to health, fitness, and an active lifestyle. Our development team has been approached to create a wellness app — ActivePlace, that would cater to different categories of users and provide personalized functionality to each member group, all related to physical activity and healthy living. 

We accomplished the main goal and built a unique project from scratch that combined social media and marketplace features. ActivePlace users can now join the platform and its wellness community to discover active experiences, training, and virtual as well as share their own fitness stories. Currently, ActivePlace is available in three versions — web and desktop applications, and mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Got a project in mind? Our company can become your ultimate web app development partner in wearable technology for athletes. We offer a broad array of professional web development services with a holistic approach. Our developers cover all stages of the web app development process, such as discovery, design, full-cycle testing and launch. We aim to bring your product to market faster and remove any risks early by leveraging a proven model.